Fantasia Synesthesia

Synesthesia (or synaesthesia) occurs when stimulation in one sensory pathway leads to involuntary experiences in another; such as hearing colors or seeing music. Allegedly, several composers, including Franz Liszt, Alexander Scriabin, Jean Sibelius, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Duke Ellington have all been blessed with this rare neurological condition. Despite his colour-blindness, composer Kemin Zhang fancies himself as someone who suffers from synesthesia and was inspired to create a series of musical works illustrating the intangible relationship between colour and sound.
Three notes were chosen at random by Solomon Hsu, Gloria Gao, and Mary Chen at the Li Delun Music Foundation Fundraiser Banquet 2023, The piece was born from a jam session with Kemin and his Bukaopu Chamber Ensemble, comprised of cellist Rosalind Zhang, violist Cole Canaday, percussionist Michael Murphy, and keyboardist Rashaan Rori Allwood. Tonight, the world-renowned painter Zuo Jin will join the musicians to interpret the piece visually by creating a painting live on stage in real-time as the piece is performed for the first time in public.
Comparing the three notes to three colours, Zuo Jin gave the piece a nickname in Chinese: “三声万悟“. This is a wordplay in Mandarin, alluding to the 42nd chapter of Tao Te Ching, that literally translates into English as ”three sounds and ten thousand ways to enlightenment.“